Video-computer based games emerged as consumer products in the 1970s and now surpass movies, television, and music in terms of worldwide profits. Many of the original text-based games, such as Zork and Deadline had a genre based literary quality to them, and 50 years later we still see literary storytelling in this medium, with both major corporations and independent developers delivering significant texts using varying levels of technology and sophistication.
At the lower level of this, developers often produce low cost material that effectively deals with social and personal issues our students are interested in. Papers Please is a multi-platform game that examines issues around immigration and documentation. One Night, Hot Springs looks at the experience of being trans at a hot spring, while This War of Mine allow us to be a civilian in an urban combat zone (and is a text in Polish history classes). New and exciting games come out frequently, and this is a rich area for texts, which are sophisticated and meet students “where they live.”
We have successfully used video games in the writing classroom, and we are proposing a workshop that presents a number of short low-cost (or free) games to the audience, along with a variety of ways of using them in the classroom. As part of the experience, we would like to engage the participants in an actual lesson in relation to one of the games being presented.
Healing from trauma can be scary, messy, and complicated. Fortunately, the power of story can help. We have been passing stories on to each other for centuries. Stories of hope and resilience are the best ones to share with each other. This session will cover some of the basics regarding trauma, including a review of the physiological responses (fight, flight, freeze).
The session will include discussion about how the vicarious experiences of fictional characters help a reader know they are not alone, introduce new coping mechanisms, and provide a safe place to approach traumatic experiences. The presenter knows that all books are not created equal. Not only will she explain how some “bibliotherapy” books miss the mark, but she will introduce books that are much more effective.
Expect lively read-alouds and group discussions about how the books can be used to teach SEL goals in general or toward healing from trauma. You will receive a link to a comprehensive book list, but you might also start filling your bookstore cart during the presentation!
As English teachers, we’re used to teaching texts in isolation. This presentation will demonstrate how the presenters have experimented with book clubs as a way to weave more varied voices into classrooms. This session will showcase an American Literature Book Club Unit, which provides a framework for students to helps our students see the larger America beyond their own experiences and those captured in canonical literature. Presenters’ sophomore teaching team reads recently published American fiction, searching for well-written literature from varied perspectives to expose students to characters facing complex issues. The novels include relatable teenage narrators whose experiences move students beyond their comfort zones. The unit revolves around student choice, beginning with book selection and extending through student-led book group discussions. In the course of the unit, student groups research related real-world issues like Native American land rights, groundwater contamination in low-income areas, and effects of immigration policies. For a final project, students create movie book trailers using Canva to advertise novels’ themes and motifs.
Presenters will also share novel titles, videos of book groups in action, and project examples.
In the last four decades, literacy scholars and national educational organizations have emphasized the need to include more diverse and inclusive texts for our students. However, teachers have also experienced increased calls for censorship and book banning in the last decade. This presentation will address two questions: how do secondary English teachers currently select books for inclusion in their curriculum? How can teachers ensure access to diverse and inclusive texts?
The presenter will share the results of a pilot study about how teachers select novels in their classrooms and share multiple resources (evaluative checklists, book awards, and online resources) to help curate inclusive classroom libraries, comprised of texts featuring protagonists representing diverse racial, linguistic, gender, and disability communities. Participants will be asked to share their experiences with text selection, reflect upon the criteria they would like to use to determine which novels to teach, and evaluate their current novel choices.
Attendees are suggested to have access to Google slides.
A session to empower and celebrate the vocation of professional educator. We will celebrate what we do, brainstorm ways to celebrate young teachers (in particular) and brainstorm ways to keep young teachers in the field of education.
Session materials: Slides
This session will discuss the findings of a three-year dissertation study about the reasons for and rhetoric surrounding book challenges and bans. The presentation will discuss how this rhetoric interrupts culturally responsive teaching practices and silences marginalized voices. This session will also present effective ways of discussing these challenges with stakeholders.
Much has been written about students’ and pre-service teachers’ fear of poetry; heck, there’s even a scientific name for the fear of poetry: metrophobia. Thankfully, there have been some great books to guide teachers and teacher educators in suffusing their classrooms with positive poetry experiences—books like John O’Connor’s 2004 Wordplaygrounds and the new Whispering in the Wind by Linda Rief and A Poetry Pedagogy for Teachers by Pindyck and Vinz. And yet, it can be hard to make sufficient time for poetry in high school and methods courses, where teachers and teacher educators are often bound by curriculum and time constraints. The presenter will describe her project to infuse both her high school classroom and, later, her writing methods course with poetry in an attempt to create fear-free poetry experiences—as well as to capitalize on poetry’s power to enhance content knowledge, collaboration, communication, and creativity. In the process, she will outline a literacy autobiography assignment she has done with high school and college students which enlists writers in creating snapshots of their most formative literacy experiences: engaging in writing workshops, reflecting on the implications of their and peers’ experience, and celebrating each other’s voices through publishing parties. Attendees will be invited to share some of their own literacy experiences and play with poetry as well.
Session materials: Slides
As ELA teachers, we know the power of a great book to captivate students’ minds and hearts. By thoughtfully selecting and presenting texts that grapple with issues of race, identity and justice, we can ignite students’ curiosity, empathy and critical consciousness. But we can’t stop at just putting diverse books in students’ hands – we must also equip ourselves with the pedagogical tools to guide them through meaningful engagement and reflection.
In “The Antiracist ELA Classroom,” I laid out a vision and roadmap for transforming our English Language Arts classrooms into sites of antiracist education and empowerment. But how do we bridge the gap between theory and practice, between the pages of a professional book and the lived realities of our classrooms? In this session, I’ll book talk some great texts coupled with ready-to-implement anti-oppressive, antiracist instructional strategies.
Many of the most frequently taught works of literature include death, trauma, and other topics that can feel daunting for new teachers to approach in the classroom. Focusing on a literacy methods course with a fieldwork component in Chicago Public Schools, this presentation explores how pre-service teachers learn to navigate teaching literature with heavy content. With Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat as a focal text, the presenter will share classroom strategies that help teachers reflect on their teaching philosophies and design lessons that balance paying attention to social-emotional needs and building literacy skills.
Session Materials: Slides; Website (Note that the website link is to the Google Slides presentation, which may be updated slightly from the ppt version.)
As education consistently adapts to the ever-changing landscape of the field and its student population, teachers and administrators are acknowledging the necessity of diverse curriculums as part of culturally relevant and responsive practices. However, we argue that this has been implemented to varying degrees of success, especially texts related to the Asian American Pacific Islander and Desi American (AAPIDA) community. As the United States continues to grow its racial diversity, the literacy opportunities within the education system need to represent it. We will report on the unique perspectives that teachers of color bring to the professional space as it comes to curriculum and instruction from our own personal experience as teachers within the AAPIDA community as well as research. We will offer a discussion about how counterstory narratives empower scholars and promote empathy across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups and challenge ourselves to view all stories with complexity, nuance, and compassion. We will examine successful ways to conduct authentic moments of cultural connections and discuss how well-intentioned practices may result in inauthentic or exacerbate systems of harm for scholars. We will offer and report on practices that we have done to enable student discussion surrounding how their identities interact with the various systems while centering counterstories, authentic connections, and tending to the social and emotional needs of scholars.
